Are you O.R./analytical professional who would like to support a charity? 3 opportunities are currently available #thisisOR #ORblog

Pro Bono O.R. – enabling managers to make more effective decisions

Pro Bono O.R. is a scheme run by The OR Society that offers free support to third sector organisations in the UK. 

Please find details of a new project below requiring the help of a skilled volunteer.

Charityworks

Information about the organisation:

Charitable objectives: To improve the standard of leadership and management in the UK non-profit sector, with the aim of having a transformative impact on the causes and communities the sector serves.

Main activities of the organisation: Charityworks is first and foremost a graduate programme open to any non-profit organisation regardless of size or activity. It connects organisations with talented graduates capable of making an impact on the causes and communities those organisation’s serve.

Area of benefit: We work to improve the quality of services provided by UK charities, by building their capacity in terms of management and leadership.

Project summary:

Project: Review of Selection & Placement Process: Analyse and improve an open, mass selection and placement campaign for a cross-sector graduate leadership programme with multiple stakeholders/partners.

Time commitment: approx. 10 days

Location:  London (potential for some if not all the project to be carried out remotely).

Please read the project scope and if you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return to me along with your CV by midday on Wednesday 2^nd September 2015.

This project is suitable for an individual volunteer or pair of analysts.  If you would like to work on a project with the support of a mentor please do specify in your application and I can try to arrange this.  Lastly, if you are interested in working on a project but cannot meet the deadline specified please do register your interest in the first instance before the deadline.

We are still looking for volunteers for the following projects:

Hope North East

Information about the organisation:

Charitable objectives: Hope North East exists to inspire, motivate, empower and support all those affected by substance misuse, to sustain long term recovery and lasting positive change.

Main activities of the organisation: We have a variety of funding from grants and a sub-contracting relationship. We provide psychosocial support through individual and groupwork, we have a housing team and provide supported housing and tenancy support. We have a volunteer coordinator with 34 volunteers as part of the organisation. We have 20 staff and 15fte.

Other relevant information: Hope North East started as a CIC and achieved charity status 2 years ago, it has had a rapid growth spurt 18 months ago which has left areas of the organisation in need of development and modernization. There is no strategy in place and I feel we need support to work up the beginnings of a strategy which informs future workstreams.

Project summary:

Project: Facilitating strategy planning: To aid the CEO, trustees and staff to develop a 3-year strategic plan

Time commitment: approx. 2 days

Location:  Middleborough

Please read the project scope and if you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return to me along with your CV by midday on Monday 31^st August 2015.

This project is suitable for an individual volunteer or pair of analysts.  If you would like to work on a project with the support of a mentor please do specify in your application and I can try to arrange this.  Lastly, if you are interested in working on a project but cannot meet the deadline specified please do register your interest in the first instance before the deadline.

Big Issue

Information about the organisation:

Main activities of the organisation: Enabling Big Issue vendors to access a wide range of ‘support’ agencies that will help them journey away from homelessness.

Charitable objectives: The relief of poverty with particular reference to the needs of homeless persons.

Other relevant information: Big Issue are seeking to gain further insights into the data that we hold on our supporters which, in turn, we hope leads to further growth again regular committed income (monthly direct debits) and seasonal appeals. The CRM database that we use is ‘Raiser’s Edge’

Project summary:

Project: Gaining insight from a CRM database: To analyse supporter data held on a Raiser’s Edge CRM database to gain insights that will help identify and target opportunities to grow income.

Time commitment: approx. 2 ½ days on site

Location:  London (SW8 2LN)

Please read the project scope and if you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return to me along with your CV by midday on Monday 17^th August 2015.

This project is suitable for an individual volunteer or pair of analysts.  If you would like to work on a project with the support of a mentor please do specify in your application and I can try to arrange this.  Lastly, if you are interested in working on a project but cannot meet the deadline specified please do register your interest in the first instance before the deadline.

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to get in touch.

I look forward to hearing from you and once again thank you for your help and support.

Kind regards

Felicity McLeister

O.R. Pro Bono Project Manager

(Mon, Tue & Wed)
Direct Tel +44 (0)121 234 7826, Main Tel +44 (0)121 233 9300

If you are not already a member of The OR Society and are interested in joining please visit https://www.theorsociety.com/ or send an email to carol.smith@theorsociety.com

Additionally you may be interested in becoming a member of our Third Sector Special Interest Group (ORiTS). For more details visit:  https://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/SpecialInterest/ORThirdSector.aspx

Other webpages that may be of interest:

http://probonoor.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx
http://www.LearnAboutOR.co.uk
http://www.ScienceofBetter.co.uk

Strategy planning and database insight: #skilledvolunteering for two projects

Pro Bono O.R. – enabling managers to make more effective decisions

Pro Bono O.R. is a scheme run by The OR Society that offers free support to third sector organisations in the UK. 

Please find details of a new project below.

Hope North East

Information about the organisation:

Charitable objectives: Hope North East exists to inspire, motivate, empower and support all those affected by substance misuse, to sustain long term recovery and lasting positive change.

Main activities of the organisation: We have a variety of funding from grants and a sub-contracting relationship. We provide psychosocial support through individual and groupwork, we have a housing team and provide supported housing and tenancy support. We have a volunteer coordinator with 34 volunteers as part of the organisation. We have 20 staff and 15fte.

Other relevant information: Hope North East started as a CIC and achieved charity status 2 years ago, it has had a rapid growth spurt 18 months ago which has left areas of the organisation in need of development and modernization. There is no strategy in place and I feel we need support to work up the beginnings of a strategy which informs future workstreams.

Project summary:

Project: Facilitating strategy planning: To aid the CEO, trustees and staff to develop a 3-year strategic plan

Time commitment: approx. 2 days

Location:  Middleborough

Please read the project scope and if you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return to me along with your CV by midday on Monday 31^st August 2015.

This project is suitable for an individual volunteer or pair of analysts.  If you would like to work on a project with the support of a mentor please do specify in your application and I can try to arrange this.  Lastly, if you are interested in working on a project but cannot meet the deadline specified please do register your interest in the first instance before the deadline.

We are still looking for volunteers for the following project:

Big Issue

Information about the organisation:

Main activities of the organisation: Enabling Big Issue vendors to access a wide range of ‘support’ agencies that will help them journey away from homelessness.

Charitable objectives: The relief of poverty with particular reference to the needs of homeless persons.

Other relevant information: Big Issue are seeking to gain further insights into the data that we hold on our supporters which, in turn, we hope leads to further growth again regular committed income (monthly direct debits) and seasonal appeals. The CRM database that we use is ‘Raiser’s Edge’

Project summary:

Project: Gaining insight from a CRM database: To analyse supporter data held on a Raiser’s Edge CRM database to gain insights that will help identify and target opportunities to grow income.

Time commitment: approx. 2 ½ days on site

Location:  London (SW8 2LN)

Please read the project scope and if you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return to me along with your CV by midday on Monday 17^th August 2015.

This project is suitable for an individual volunteer or pair of analysts.  If you would like to work on a project with the support of a mentor please do specify in your application and I can try to arrange this.  Lastly, if you are interested in working on a project but cannot meet the deadline specified please do register your interest in the first instance before the deadline.

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to get in touch.

I look forward to hearing from you and once again thank you for your help and support.

Kind regards

Felicity McLeister

O.R. Pro Bono Project Manager

(Mon, Tue & Wed)
Direct Tel +44 (0)121 234 7826, Main Tel +44 (0)121 233 9300

If you are not already a member of The OR Society and are interested in joining please visit https://www.theorsociety.com/ or send an email to carol.smith@theorsociety.com

Additionally you may be interested in becoming a member of our Third Sector Special Interest Group (ORiTS). For more details visit:  https://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/SpecialInterest/ORThirdSector.aspx

Other webpages that may be of interest:

http://probonoor.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx
http://www.LearnAboutOR.co.uk
http://www.ScienceofBetter.co.uk

How volunteering will lift your firms performance

There is increasing evidence to suggest how good skilled volunteering can be for the volunteer and the recipient organisation.

Additionally our feedback has shown a big benefit to organisations that send volunteers to carry out skilled volunteering as part of their CSR initiative.  The best example to date is a team of skilled volunteers who carried out a project with RSPCA.  The team were from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (part of GORS - The Government Operations Research Service).  You can read about their experience here

The article below from Cranfield Trust explains further how volunteering can lift you firms performance:

http://cranfieldtrust.org/article/2015/jun/24/how-volunteering-will-lift-your-firms-performance

If you work for an organisation that has operational researchers/analytical staff then you could benefit from signing up to Pro Bono O.R.

For other more general skilled volunteering opportunities please visit:
Career Volunteer
Cranfield Trust
Reach Skills

One click away from skilled volunteering #ORblog

Skilled volunteering is a fantastic way to use the skills you already have to make a real difference to third sector organisations.

Whether its a few hours or a few days, both the organisation and the volunteers benefit from volunteering.

To see what some of our volunteers have to say please read these two articles written by volunteers who worked with RSPCA and HARCVS:

Volunteer experience article RSPCA
Volunteer experience article HARCVS

To see the who we've worked with and the types of projects we've completed please visit: case studies

Signing up to become a #ProBonoOR volunteer only takes a couple of minutes but could have a long term impact on both yourself and the organisation(s) you work with http://ow.ly/Or0Mq 

Please share and get in touch for further information felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com 

Please follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for further information and updates.

Pro Bono O.R. is skilled volunteering for individuals with operational research/analytical experience.  Please note projects can be carried out individually, in teams and with a mentor if required.

For information on other skilled volunteering organisations please visit:
Career Volunteer or Reach Skills

Pro Bono O.R. is seeking a skilled volunteer for an audience segmentation project with Sense #ProBonoOR #ORblog #Sense

Pro Bono O.R. is currently recruiting volunteers for a project with Sense.  Please take a look and read the project scope to see if you would be able to help.  Please get in touch if you require any further information.

Sense

Information about the organisation:

A national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind or have sensory impairments

Charitable objectives: To support and promote the interests of people who are deafblind, multi-sensory-impaired, or who have a single sensory impairment with additional needs.

Project summary:

Project: Audience segmentation: To create an audience segmentation that would look across all Sense supporters as the starting point of a project to deliver a new approach to Supporter Relationship Management.

Time commitment: approx. 5 days over 2-3 months

Location:  London (The volunteer will need to have an initial session at Sense HQ but after that it will be possible to arrange remote access to the data.)

Please read the detailed project scope and if you feel you are able to offer your assistance please complete the application form and return to me along with your CV by midday on Wednesday 24^th June 2015.

This project is suitable for an individual volunteer or as a pair (with one carrying out the project and one quality assuring the work).  if you would like to work on a project with the support of a mentor please do specify in your application and I can arrange this.  Lastly, if you are interested in working on a project but cannot meet the deadline specified please do register your interest in the first instance before the deadline.

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to get in touch.

I look forward to hearing from you and once again thank you for your help and support.

Kind regards

Felicity McLeister

O.R. Pro Bono Project Manager

(Mon, Tue & Wed)
Direct Tel +44 (0)121 234 7826, Main Tel +44 (0)121 233 9300

If you are not already a member of The OR Society and are interested in joining please visit https://www.theorsociety.com/ or send an email to carol.smith@theorsociety.com

Additionally you may be interested in becoming a member of our Third Sector Special Interest Group (ORiTS). For more details visit:  https://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/SpecialInterest/ORThirdSector.aspx

Other webpages that may be of interest:

http://probonoor.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx
http://www.LearnAboutOR.co.uk
http://www.ScienceofBetter.co.uk

Share the good news #ProBonoOR #ORblog

The success of the Pro Bono O.R. scheme has been can be largely attributed to two things, firstly our amazing volunteers and secondly those that endorse the scheme in order to help more organisations hear about the work we do and be able to sign up for support.

Today I would like to thanks NACVA for publishing an article promoting the scheme and HARCVS who have given high praise for the work pro Bono O.R. carried out for them. https://twitter.com/ChiefExecHARCVS/status/608536394198331392

To continue the success of this great scheme that is making a real difference to UK based third sector organisations please consider signing up to become a volunteer here as well as telling others about the scheme.  Third sector organisations can benefit from a wide range of operational improvements through Pro Bono O.R., including efficiency improvement, business planning, options appraisal, impact measurement, strategic planning/review, process improvement, data analysis etc.  Whatever the aim, O.R. can offer the flexibility and adaptability to provide objective help.

For further infomation please visit the webpage or contact me at felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com

Pro Bono O.R. newsletter (issue 2)

The OR Society: Pro Bono O.R. newsletter - issue 2

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A flying start to 2015

Well what a busy start to the year 2015 has been.  Before you know it March has arrived, the sun is starting to shine and we are almost into spring.  In this second issue I want to tell you about all the latest news from Pro Bono O.R. including collaborating with Career Volunteer, what it’s like to be a volunteer and an update on the projects.

Volunteer Experience

Are you considering skilled volunteering? Wonder what it might be like? This guest blog from Alessandro Arbib tells you about his team’s experience of Pro Bono O.R. with RSPCA.

http://probonoor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/volunteering-with-rspca-or-canine.html

Have you got a story to tell?  If so I’d love to hear from you and would happily publish the article as a guest blog and promote via my social media channels.

Project updates

Since the start of the year we have completed 4 projects including London Quadrant Housing Trust and two with Elfrida Rathbone (keep an eye on the webpage for the case study slides).  We have had 15 new enquires and have started 3 new projects with Ethical Property Foundation and two with Diabetes UK.

Mentoring

Did you know that many projects are suitable for individuals, pairs or teams of volunteers?  Additionally if you would like to undertake a project but feel that you would benefit from the support of a mentor we can also offer that.  Here a volunteer comments on the benefit of having a mentor: ‘We really appreciate the support you have given us over the course of the project. I would never have had the confidence to embark on this if you had not agreed to be a mentor’.

I am delighted to announce that Pro Bono O.R. will be working with Career Volunteer.

Career Volunteer works with charities and social enterprises around the world to assist with trustee recruitment, skilled volunteers and Board members through corporate volunteering, employee engagement, skilled volunteering programmes and executive search.

Career Volunteer works with skilled volunteers - people with strong skill sets looking to add to their careers through volunteering. Their aim is to make skilled volunteering or being a trustee a normal part of working life for the majority of people; to unleash their skills in a way that builds capacity and resources for charities worldwide. 

They are keen to see more large companies provide structured time and support for their emerging leaders to engage in supporting charities as trustees and skilled volunteers through their CSR, corporate social responsibility programmes and their leadership development programmes, seeing this as good for everyone concerned. 

Career Volunteer's vision to unleash the talents and skills in the corporate and public sector for the benefit of charities and social enterprises has great synergy with Pro Bono O.R., whose aim is to use skilled volunteering to help third sector organisations, give volunteers opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills and to increase the awareness of Operational Research.

Working together will enable Pro Bono O.R. to carry out more projects by being able to advertise projects through the Career Volunteer website and therefore having a wider pool of volunteers who are able to apply for projects.

I am really excited by this collaboration and look forward to seeing how we can provide mutual support for one another; ultimately providing benefit to the third sector and providing more opportunities for skilled volunteering.

To see more about Career Volunteer and the types of volunteer roles they are currently recruiting for please visit their website.

Finding out more

Click here to find out more about volunteering                   Click here to find out how to receive support

Click here to see all the completed case studies                For further information please visit the webpage

Thank you for your support of Pro Bono O.R.

Best wishes

Felicity McLeister

Pro Bono O.R. collaborates with Career Volunteer

I am delighted to announce that Pro Bono O.R. will be working with Career Volunteer.

Career Volunteer works with charities and social enterprises around the world to assist with trustee recruitment, skilled volunteers and Board members through corporate volunteering, employee engagement, skilled volunteering programmes and executive search.

Career Volunteer works with skilled volunteers - people with strong skill sets looking to add to their careers through volunteering. Their aim is to make skilled volunteering or being a trustee a normal part of working life for the majority of people; to unleash their skills in a way that builds capacity and resources for charities worldwide. 

They are keen to see more large companies provide structured time and support for their emerging leaders to engage in supporting charities as trustees and skilled volunteers through their CSR, corporate social responsibility programmes and their leadership development programmes, seeing this as good for everyone concerned. 

Career Volunteer's vision to unleash the talents and skills in the corporate and public sector for the benefit of charities and social enterprises has great synergy with Pro Bono O.R., whose aim is to use skilled volunteering to help third sector organisations, give volunteers opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills and to increase the awareness of Operational Research.

Working together will enable Pro Bono O.R. to carry out more projects by being able to advertise projects through the Career Volunteer website and therefore having a wider pool of volunteers who are able to apply for projects.

I am really excited by this collaboration and look forward to seeing how we can provide mutual support for one another; ultimately providing benefit to the third sector and providing more opportunities for skilled volunteering.

To see more about Career Volunteer and the types of volunteer roles they are currently recruiting for please visit their website

Follow me on Twitter @FMcLeister

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If you are not already a member of The OR Society and are interested in joining please visit https://www.theorsociety.com/or send an email to carol.smith@theorsociety.com

Additionally you may be interested in becoming a member of our Third Sector Special Interest Group (ORiTS). For more details visit:  https://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/SpecialInterest/ORThirdSector.aspx

Other pages that may be of interest:

http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx 

http://www.LearnAboutOR.co.uk

http://www.ScienceofBetter.co.uk